The Commonwealth Fund published an analysis yesterday showing that savings can be achieved in the U.S. healthcare system with or without a public health plan. However, a public plan that pays providers Medicare rates would offer the biggest savings — as opposed to no public plan (i.e., only private plans offered through an insurance exchange) or a public plan that pays rates midway between Medicare and private health plans.
All three paths would produce substantial health system savings over the 11-year period from 2010 through 2020, with cumulative savings of $3.0 trillion under the Public Plan with Medicare Payment Rates scenario, $2.0 trillion under the Public Plan with Intermediate Payment Rates scenario, and $1.2 trillion under the Private Plans scenario….
Differences in system savings under the three scenarios derive from insurance administrative savings realized by the offer of a public health insurance plan in competition with private plans; from the tighter payment rates used by the public plan; and from the application of payment innovations and system reforms to a greater share of the insured population under the two scenarios that feature a public plan.
Subscribe in RSS Reader